Why This Coupled Left Delhi & Moved to Mussoorie?

you know this is a 118 year old house and when we first saw it it was completely desolate it was one stage before a ruin everything had to be redone starting from the path coming down there was a pundi there was no path coming down and we got four walls and half a roof it costed at that time about 1.25 [Music] CR people who are in the Metros people are in tier one cities you know living working in a corporate MNC or working in a world uh for them you know life is pretty much Clockwork you have to get up at a specific time you know get your breakfast done you know head before the paa starts that was happening with us also while we were in Delhi we kind of you know realized that that is not what's going to Define us you know we didn't want to be part of that you know the so-called rat as they say and a conviction grew even stronger shishi after her daughter was born that we didn't want her to be raised in a Metro in an urban setting we wanted her to have a more grassroot level upbringing and we said that look if life gives us an opportunity let's just get out you know go into the mountains and start something so in terms of location Landor ticks every box there's a saying in Hindi that you know and so just a very quaint Old English town and we just fell in love with this place so the move to Lor happened in 2010 November 2009 you know Sunita R and I we were holidaying here and as luck would have it or as Destiny would have it we chanced upon this property and I still remember we were right at the top and uh I asked Sunita I said you know if life gives us an opportunity would you like to settle down over here and she took a look around and she said yeah I would love to so laa betne you know uh the whole concept was that when we first saw it and as I said you know the property spoke to us you know we fell in love with this place and uh that's when you know the clarity of vision happened that we'll do a bed and breakfast we were one of the first people one of the first early birds to move into the Homestay category in India we get people from diverse backgrounds not just in terms of professions but also cultures and nationalities so it's a very interesting thing in the library we have a map where uh you know whenever we have international guests coming in we ask them to put a dot and Mark where home is for them so you know now every continent is marked but the good thing is they say that wherever you've asked us to Mark home we come from there but now we have a home in landoor so we both professional hoteliers post College I joined itdc after that I joined uh ITC hotels um I was part of the opening team of ITC marata in Bombay I used to manage restaurants there and uh then after a couple of years we got married I moved to Maria in Delhi my background again Hospitality uh work worked with the ooys for 12 years uh after my stint with the ooys I worked with the British foreign office and it was a very very Plum job it was a very important job in the foreign office I was one of the highest ranking Indians and then at the height of all of that you know I decided to quit and do this it sent shock waves in the family people started questioning saying has amarjit lost it you know is he Bonkers you know why is he trying to do this but I think for us you know we had already made up our mind you know because you know if if India has to be a developed country we have to Spur entrepreneurship amongst its people and particularly in the privilege class you know people have access to wealth people have access to education uh we need to get out of this mindset of being employees to becoming employes I still remember we had this book in which we I titled it as you know project laa Beth and we would do these permutations combinations of you know the number crunching the number crunching as Sunita said earlier you know she was fortunate to work with ITC hotels and she joined the group at the right time you know quit at the right time she got lots of esops we kept those esops you know and I still remember I still remember a very senior uh manager from ITC hotels it was the vph he said when when I have to show a masket of how the esops should be used I talk about you so to be honest he said he said that a lot of your peers in the in the organization went and bought BMWs and Audi's and all and flashy cars and you know living the High Life whereas you've utiliz it to create an asset uh we also had this at the back of the mind that you know if push comes to shove we have an apartment in Bombay so we we liquidated that I remember we bought it in I think 2005 and we sold it in 2010 12 no 2012 H 12 201 12 so those seven years is when the actual boom happened in Bombay in real estate so we bought it for 14 lakhs and we sold it for 65 lakhs so we we really benefited with that that's how we worked so one was the esops we had savings you know I had savings from the foreign office days U and and then the apartment in Bombay and and plus then later on just to bridge that cap which was wanting we took a loan from a Cooperative Bank in Bombay the initial few years were tough absolutely I mean there's no business where you know you will you open the doors and you know the the flood the flood comes through you know there's nothing like that yes we had to you know fight for a you know getting business in we had to work hard we had to spread messages when we initially started off we realized that a lot of work needs to be done in the place and uh the project will take some time so we decided to play to our own strengths uh for me at that time there was no difference between a nut and a bolt so he told me very clearly project is not your cup of tea I'll handle it to pesia so though he quit and moved here I continued working for the next uh 2 years you know the 1 and a/2 years of uh project and another 6 months after we started operations also so because you know somebody had to get the bread in so traditionally in the hospitality industry it takes anywhere from 7 to 8 years to break even all right so we also broke even in the e8th year but as I said earlier this being a 118 year old property you know whatever little profits that we earned earlier you know it went into the plowed back into the maintenance of this place now we are absolutely there uh from lavala with we do around a CR a year this is revenue profit right now uh would be 30% 15% 15% is the net profit many of times you know and between the two of us honestly he leaves the finances to me so many of times he ask me me that uh how are we doing financially okay uh but the question comes more from the point of view that in our old age will we be able to lead the same kind of lifestyle that we are able to lead now so one good thing is that because we become entrepreneurs a we will never retire we need only so much that our current lifestyle continues our health is taken care of our daughter's education is taken care of after doing all this the only thing we want to do which is our life's goal is that we want to travel we want to see the world as of now we are getting the world coming to us now we want to go and explore the world so right now we're not saving for it but we are doing Investments Investments would be we have a house in uh Delhi uh apart from that uh there are mutual funds that we've invested in uh there are uh stocks now I think the house is still 60% Equity would be around 25% insurances and mutual funds all those things would be the balance we are not Traders you know we see a spike in sell and buy no we don't do that it's for the Long Haul so this I think one of the advice I had read an article that floated on the net you know Warren Buffett's advice saying that you know be an investor always be invested so that's that's been the fundamental rule of uh investing is that stay invested for the Long Haul and that's another Secret why we have peaceful sleep you know when we bought that house uh that time we were the typical ding couple double income no kids though we were living in cities uh see for us thanks to our careers all our high life was happening there so you know I used to manage restaurants I used to manage pubs and discs so after that for myself going to a pub or a disc had no charm you know and it was the same thing for both of us so uh in terms of expenditure whatever we were earning almost 80 to 85% of it we were we were spending because we were living on rent we had put our daughter in daycare so we were earning quite a bit but at the end of the day now we moved to a small town you know a movie theater came out here just a few years back there's just one theater before that to even think of going for a movie we had to plan going down to dadun no in in general life in the life in the mountains is very simple very simple very very simple you know it's it's very simple the needs of people are very basic so what happens is that you focus as I said earlier you know you you refocus your priorities so we would say uh it's it's almost like uh the expenditure the costs have reduced by almost 50% now our expenditure honestly is on things that we love for me one of my biggest expenses is is my garden you know but that gives me a lot of inner peace and it gives me a lot of satisfaction that's something I would I would invest in so net net there is a lot of saving I would say if uh we were able to save 15% of what we earned earlier now it is easily 45 to 50% that's why I say we've also become uh paharis because personally our own needs are very limited you know at the end of the day it may sound philosophical we both come from very very regular middle class families but we were blessed with a skill set and life gave us an opportunity you know so that is what we want to share with others now this opportunity for the local uh youth who don't get that chance so our goals are now very very different but the advice for people who want to do this the key over here is perseverance and the fact that you have to give time for it to develop it doesn't happen overnight all right so there are days of frustration they were initially you know not now but you have to believe in the power of your dream and continue keep trudging along you know in your heels Co was a trying time you know when absolutely every source of income just dried out you know we were there 9 months without any business but what we did was you know we kept the entire team together we didn't let anyone go we said that we'll tide over the crisis together as a family and then we'll pick up the Reigns you know when the business comes in but my advice is uh if if somebody does want to do this and particularly if it's a couple the first thing is that both the spouses have to be on the same page page that's when the Synergy happens and that's when you can you know create pull in the talents and move forward there are lot of people who have a very romantic notion of moving to to the mountains you're used to certain Creature Comforts in the city don't expect that you're going to get everything in the city you pick up the phone order somebody the plumber will be there at your doorstep or your veggies will be delivered to you on your doorstep that is not going to happen uh secondly here you don't decide every everything is dictated by Nature you may plan that today I'm going to do this this this you wake up the next morning and it's pouring yeah I mean you got to surrender to the ways of the mountain you know the mountains will not change for you you have to change for the mountains I mean that's the thumb rule if this is something you want to do don't die with a regret that I wish I had done it you have only one life go do it no not just maximum you can go back to what you were doing earlier but take that plunge both sun and I we believe in this fact that you know we need to have a certain degree of reverse migration happening so my you know one of my missions for in in life is to convince many people you know to quit urban areas go into rural areas and start something it's not just mountains you could be somebody who loves the beach who loves the sea uh you could go into the remote parts somebody who is an avid uh you know naturalist or something like that could look at living on the periphery of a national forest and create something over there start a business something over there and and do so it's it's about you know leaving the urban centers and going and settling in rural areas I mean that bringing your skill set into that area yeah bring bringing your skill set you know what is it that you bring to the local community over there and create opportunities of at the end of the day you have to keep adding values to wherever you move you know the pros are much more than the cons you know I mean the kind of quality of life the richness the the fact that you know you're breathing fresh air uh you're living life which is absolutely peaceful I mean you know you switch off all the lights and you sit and you gaze up in the sky you will see stars that you would never see in the you know in in the city I will just say it in one line that life is better in Lor thank you for watching and supporting our Channel if you like the stories we tell here's your chance to be a part of it if you or anybody you know has an interesting Financial journey to share then please fill the form in the pin comment below and we'll get in touch with you

Channel: Wint Wealth

Views: 685,893

Keywords: moving to the mountains, slow life, left corporate

Id: FA3Idn3Lxto

Length: 14min 32sec (872 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 24 2023